This invention relates to an improved, mailable greeting device which comprises an inflatable balloon having a design printed or otherwise manufactured thereon and a flat piece of card stock having a design printed, die-cut or otherwise inscribed thereon and having an optional message printed or otherwise inscribed thereon, said balloon and said flat piece of card stock being permanently affixed to each other by means of a triple-layered strip of sticky tapes, said strip of sticky tapes permanently and continuously binding together said balloon and said piece of card stock while balloon is flat and uninflated and also during and upon inflation of said balloon, said triple-layered strip of sticky tapes being an integral part of the present invention.
More particularly the purpose of the present invention is to unite in a permanent manner said balloon and said piece of card stock, said balloon and said piece of card stock bearing interrelated designs, said designs complementing one another in such a manner that, upon inflation of said balloon, said greeting device represents one conceptually and visually coherent, whole and three-dimensional image, of which both said balloon and said piece of card stock are integral design components.
Said invention has a further purpose of providing recipient of said greeting device with a visual surprise which becomes apparent as recipient inflates said balloon, thus enlarging an image printed or otherwise manufactured on said balloon. Said greeting device is constructed in such a manner that recipient is provided with an active role in revealing said three-dimensional surprise image conveyed by said greeting device upon inflation of said balloon.
The following patents are mentioned as background prior art, but none of them is pertinent to the present invention:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Date Inventor ______________________________________ 4,509,280 April 9, 1985 Smith 4,813,902 March 21, 1989 Messer ______________________________________ Foreign Pat. No. Date Country ______________________________________ 2,102,099 July 27, 1972 West Germany ______________________________________
Smith discloses a three-dimensional greeting device which comprises a stuffed toy in the shape of an animal, having wing flaps which contain flexible panels which have a message, illustration or other information printed thereon.
Messer discloses a mailable balloon-greeting card combination in which greeting card stock blank has a message printed or otherwise inscribed thereon and which together with tube and clip elements provided therewith can be assembled by recipient to form a triple-paneled stand for the balloon with no mutually associative visual image relationship existing between balloon and triple-paneled stand either when balloon is uninflated or inflated.
The West German patent (Nurenberger-Gummi) discloses a card stock blank having a message inscribed thereon and a balloon, utilizing a slot in said card element into which the base of said balloon is inserted in an invariably upright position, with no mutually associative visual image relationship existing between said balloon and said card elements either when balloon element is uninflated or inflated.
The above mentioned prior patents do not suggest the innovations of the present invention which include a means of permanently uniting a balloon, said balloon having a design printed thereon, and a flat piece of card stock, said piece of card stock having a design printed and/or die-cut thereon and having an optional message printed thereon, in such a manner that said balloon and said piece of card stock remain permanently affixed to each other before, during and after inflation of said balloon. Said permanent physical bond between said balloon and said piece of card stock is provided by a triple-layered strip of sticky tapes. This method of permanently binding said balloon and said flat piece of card stock, which bear mutually complementary designs thereon, makes possible the manufacture of such a greeting device as described in the present invention specification, which upon the inflation of said balloon, as said balloon rests continuously and permanently affixed to said piece of card stock, reveals a surprising, design-integrated and coherent visual image as recipient inflates said balloon, said balloon bearing a design thereon which is enlarged as said balloon is inflated. Such an element of surprise would be lacking if balloon were inflated apart from the greeting card component as is the common procedure with other inventions which have both balloon and greeting card (i.e. card stock) components.
Many greeting devices require the recipient to assemble a balloon component and a greeting card component by means of slots or holes and/or by means of tubes, clips or other cumbersome paraphernelia. A greeting card component of such an invention generally functions primarily as a base member or stand for a balloon component. Even when such a greeting device has miscellaneous decorations and/or verbal messages inscribed onto a balloon and/or onto a greeting card component, such a combination of a balloon component and a greeting card component is apparently not designed in such a way that the balloon component and the greeting card component convey together an integrated and whole design image of the greeting device as a whole, either when the balloon is uninflated or inflated. Such greeting devices which combine a balloon component and a greeting card component in the above described manner also contain limitations in terms of the range of visual images conveyable by the greeting device as a whole because, according to their assembly descriptions, such greeting devices are restriced to having the balloon component in a topmost position in the construction of the greeting device, and to having the greeting card component in the bottommost position, serving as a stand or base for the balloon. A further limitation in terms of possible visual imagery conveyable by greeting devices using the above said means of attachment is encountered when latex balloons are used as part of the greeting device because the stem portion of such a balloon must point down inorder to be attached to the greeting card component as mandated by the means of attachment outlined above. The present invention makes it possible to attach balloon component to a flat piece of card stock (i.e. the greeting card component) with the stem of the latex balloon component, when latex balloon is used, pointing in any one of a nearly unlimited number of possible directions. When a balloon component made of mylar or of some other suitable material is used instead of a latex balloon, in the present invention, the balloon can also be positioned onto the flat piece of card stock at any one of a nearly unlimited number of places on the surface of the balloon component. This versatility of positioning is made possible by said triple-layered strip of sticky tapes.